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I am currently in the process of migrating the content shared here to a series of new websites hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com.

As you explore this site, you may find links to a "page not found" instead of something cool and magickal. For this I apologize. I am very working hard behind the scenes to restore those pages along with a link to their homes on my new website where they can be viewed in full.

December 31st is St. Sylvester's Day. Here is some associated folklore:

To be born on Sylvester's day gives a love of change that is carried too far.

It is a bad day for reconciling enemies.

December thirty-first, when Judas hanged himself, is considered by many a very unlucky day.

On Sylvester night all water is turned into wine, but only between 12 and 1 o'clock.

In Ireland on the last day of the year a cake is thrown at the door by the head of the house to prevent hunger from entering during the coming year.

Whoever sees his or her shadow on St. Sylvester's night, without any head to the shadow will die within a year.

On the last day of the old year rats are going about everywhere in the house, and if they hear nothing said about them, they will never go there again; but if the word rat is mentioned in their hearing, they will take it as an invitation and will return in great numbers.

It used to be a custom not long since for the inhabitants of St. Pierre on the island of Guernsey to turn out in a body on the 31st of December to bury an effigy representing the old year in the sand of Vazon Bay. This was called burying the "End of the Year." This custom is now extinct, and popular corruption has mixed it up with the burning of Guy Fawke's effigy on the 5th of November, so much so that the figure of Guy is now called "The end of the year" without any reason whatever.

In Germany New Year's eve is called Sylvester's Eve and it is considered ill luck to go to bed before the new year has begun. There is a widespread superstition that if you keep awake on that night and hear a chorus of voices singing hymns, you will have good luck all the year. In many families the children recite verses (New-Year wishes) for their parents, ask their forgiveness for wrong-doings during the past year and promising good behavior for the new year. Great revelries are held on that night in almost every country and many superstitious rites are observed.

In Scotland the last day of the year is considered propitious for almost any undertaking, especially marriage.

People of Madrid, Spain, have an interesting old New Year's custom: at the stroke of midnight each person eats twelve grapes. The cinemas will even stop running a movie at midnight to allow the patrons to eat their grapes.

This Russian New Year's Eve women's divination ritual foretells the fortunes awaiting in the New Year. In the days before private bathrooms and indoor plumbing, the bathhouse was a place of social as well as hygienic significance. It is also often a place of great magical and spiritual significance. What is now only a "bathhouse" was once the home for spiritual, shamanic, and magic rites. Babies were born in the bathhouse, healings performed, men and women readied for marriage. Post Christianity, the bathhouse retained its power but also developed an aura of the forbidden.

In Russia, the bathhouse maintains a magical aura akin to a crossroads. The bathhouse is also the home of powerful spirits, ancient pagan deities now demoted to bathhouse guardians. Forgotten spirits tend to be grouchy spirits, although not always. This ritual takes place at midnight, ideally at midnight, the threshold of the New Year....

The New Year represents a new beginning in every way. Clearing up unfinished business, of whatever kind, is a good notion, and blowing away the cobwebs from the old year that has passed is no bad thing either. In parts of Scotland this was accomplished by the juniper and water rite.

After sunset on New Year's Eve, people went out to gather branches of juniper and buckets of fresh water from a well or stream. The branches were then placed by the fire to dry out. In the morning the head of the household...

The house received a mini spring-cleaning. Slops and ashes, which are usually removed in the morning, are carried out. Debts must be paid, borrowed articles returned, stockings darned, tears mended, clocks wound up, musical instruments tuned...
I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website The Pagan Calendar (hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com) and can be found in its entirety here: New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is traditionally a time for assessing the past twelve months and for looking ahead to the New Year. Numerous customs are still retained in Europe and the United States, including the idea of kindling a new light from the old. This can be achieved in a number of ways, including the following simple ceremony.

At a few minutes to midnight, put out all of your lights except for a single candle or a lantern (it's important that the light be a living one rather than electric). Send someone outside (traditionally it is someone who has dark hair) with the light, which they must guard and protect from the weather. As the clock strikes twelve have that person knock on the door....

Sunday, December 30, 2012

The sixth day of Christmas is the day of "Bringing in the Boar." Two traditions honor the importance of the boar at Solstice tide. In Scandinavia, Frey, the god of sunshine, rode across the sky on his golden-bristled boar. Gulli-burstin, who was seen as a solar image, his spikes representing the rays of the sun.

In the ancient Norse tradition, the intention was to gain favor from Frey in the new year. The boar's head with an apple in his mouth was carried into the banquet hall on a gold or silver dish to the sounds of trumpets and the songs of minstrels....

Saturday, December 29, 2012

The Feast of Fools, a day when the normal order of things was ceremonially reversed, has been neglected for a long while - unfortunately, as it could well serve in our own times as a safe way of letting off steam. Essentially, it allowed people who were restricted from even the most casual of pleasure by the Church, to act in an abandoned way. It was also a time of festivity that was both part of, and sometimes even superseded, Christmas.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Today (December 28) is Dyzymas Day, also known as Holy Innocent's Day, or Childremass. This day has always, in one way or another been associated with children. In more recent times the connection is specifically with the children slaughtered at the orders of Herod, who feared the prophecy of the Magi that a new King of the Jews had been born in Judea.

Throughout the Middle Ages this day was considered particularly unlucky and it was believed that no task begun on December 28th would prosper. ...

In Northamptonshire it was known as Dyzymas Day and a local saying was: "What is begun on Dyzymas Day will never be finished."

A more barbaric practice that continued well into the eighteenth century was to beat children on this day....

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Mother Night is traditionally celebrated on the third day of the twelve days of Christmas. I couldn't find much lore, but I did find this nice little article in The Winter Solstice about Mother Christmas (Frau Holle, Holda, Hulda, Holla):

Honoring the Mothers

There are so many male figures associated with the Winter Solstice, we should give room to at least one female character, and who better than Mother Christmas? On this day, include a figure of Holda upon your Winter shrine....

In the Christian calendar the third day of Christmas is given over to St. John, the beloved disciple. Throughout Germany and Austria, it is still customary to have the priest bless the wine on this day. The resulting "St John's wine" is considered very lucky and is believed to have healing properties. It is preserved throughout the year, and even ordinary bottles placed next to it are said to taste better!

Here's the traditional blessing:

Priest: Our help is in the name of the Lord.All: Who made heaven and earth.Priest: The Lord be with you.All: May He also be with you.

Let us pray. If it please you, Lord God, bless + and consecrate + this vessel of wine (or any other beverage) by the power of ...
I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website The Book of Shadows (hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com) and can be found in its entirety here: St John's Wine.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Make any kind of favorite cake, ice it, and decorate it with a circle of animal figures.These can be homemade of modeling clay, or bought from any toy store. Read the following invocation over the cake as you serve it:

St Stephen's Day draws together a number of solstice traditions. We have already learned of the ancient practice of hunting the wren, the King of all birds (see King Wren), and of displaying the tiny corpse around the villages throughout Britain and Ireland. The origins of this custom probably date back to the time when kings were slaughtered after a year in office - and in France up until the seventeenth century the first person to kill and display the body of the wren was chosen king for a day at the time of the Feast of Fools.

The association of the wren killing with St. Stephen's Day may well derive from a legend of the saint's visit to Scandinavia.

One of the most remarkable and dramatic Solstice customs involving animals is the Hunting of the Wren, which traditionally takes place on Boxing Day or St. Stephen's Day. The custom lasted longest in Wales and the Isle of Man and still takes place today in Ireland. A description from 1840 describes it thus:

For some weeks preceding Christmas, crowds of village boys may be seen peering into hedges, in search of the tiny wren...

Monday, December 24, 2012

The moon is perhaps humankind's oldest form of marking time. According to some scholars, the Celts used a Lunar Calendar that consisted of 13 months, each 28 days in length. Each month of the Celtic Lunar calendar bears the name of a tree, which also stands for one of the consonants in the Celtic 'tree alphabet'. There are basically two different versions of this Lunar calendar: the Beth-Luis-Nion (which begins on the Winter Solstice) and the Beth-Luis-Fearn (which begins on Samhain).

Beth-Luis-Nion version of The Celtic Tree calendar:

B - Beth - Birch Month (December 24th - January 20th)

L - Luis - Rowan Month (January 21st - February 17th)

N - Nion - Ash Month (February 18th - March 17th)

F - Fearn - Alder Month (March 18th - April 14th)

S - Saille - Willow Month (April 15th - May 12th)

H - Huath - Hawthorn Month (May 13th - June 9th)

D - Duir - Oak Month (Jun 10th - July 7th)

T - Tinne - Holly Month (July 8th - August 4th)

C - Coll - Hazel Month (August 5th - September 1st)

M - Muin - Vine Month (September 2nd - September 29th)

G - Gort - Ivy Month (September 30th - October 27th

Ng - Ngetal - Reed Month or Elm Month (October 28th - November 24th)

R - Ruis - Elder Month (November 25th - December 23rd)

The five vowels I, A, O, U, and E have corresponding tree names to the nights of the solstices and equinoxes:

I - Idho - Night of the Yew - Winter Solstice Eve

A - Ailm - Night of the Silver Fir - Winter Solstice

* - Herb too sacred to have a Celtic name - the Night of Mistletoe - Day after Winter Solstice

Here we have an extended list of birth dates and the trees associated with them. You might notice that while some of the trees appear just once, most of the trees appear twice in the year, and the Poplar shows up three times.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

The following is a variation on the famous song about the twelve Days of Christmas from Scotland.

Gather a few friends around the fire. Have one of them say or sing the first verse aloud. Then have everyone repeat it, the same with the next verse and so on. As the verses get longer, whoever makes a slip in repeating the lines pays a forfeit - any small object they may possess such as a candy or a nut.

From the earliest times the twelve days have been regarded as a time when supernatural events can easily happen, when the dead are close at hand and might often be seen.

One reads of the Wild Hunt, or the Fairy Host riding across the lands of Britain and Germany in particular, led by characters such as King Arthur, Woden, and Arawn, the Celtic god of the Underworld. In Ireland these supernatural hunters are known as the Yule Host, and in common with all these bands they are believed to gather up wandering souls and carry them away to the Otherworld.

The Twelve Days of Christmas stand outside of "ordinary time," and celebrations focus on the return of the sun and a continuation of the eternal cycle of life....

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Mistletoe is another important plant that is used in many holiday traditions surrounding the winter solstice. Druids believed that anything found growing on an oak tree had been sent from heaven and mistletoe found on oaks was especially sacred.

Said to lose its power once it touches the ground, mistletoe is a holy herb and sacred to many deities. Mistletoe was perceived as being in a category all its own....

Here is a fun way to gather the family in a simply beautiful Yule project and ritual. With supervision, most children can easily make this themselves; it makes a fun family project.

1. Gather your favorite evergreens. Choose a few cuttings each from such winter favorites as holly with berries, juniper with berries, cedar, spruce, or pine needles. If available, add a few tiny birch pinecones as well (these are one inch or less).

2. Pour water into a three-inch deep rectangular plastic (flexible) container, half full. Place three to six naturally scented beeswax, soy, or essential oil scented candles into the container. The candles should be four inches tall and three to four inches wide.

3. Add the evergreens and berries to the container in a pleasing arrangement around the candles. Cover the greens with more water so they'll appear to float once frozen. Be careful not to over fill; the plastic container should be two-thirds full of water in the end.

4. Place in the freezer until frozen (or outdoors if it's cold enough). Freeze until solid.

5. Slide out the rectangular ice block with the evergreens and candles frozen inside. Turn onto a fireproof plate (a high-fired glazed ceramic plate would serve well) or an old cookie sheet covered with foil. You can accentuate the display by placing polished stones or polished glass beads around the edges of the ice.

6. Light the candles. Say a winter prayer, offer a blessing, and be thankful to our essential elements of fire, water, air, and earth.

Friday, December 14, 2012

When researching lore and magicks for the Twelve Days of Christmas I found a lot of disagreement as to the dates. So, from Wikipedia we have this explanation:

The Twelve Days of Christmas are the festive days beginning Christmas Day (25 December). This period is also known as Christmastide and Twelvetide. The Twelfth Night of Christmas is always on the evening of 5 January, but the Twelfth Day can either precede or follow the Twelfth Night according to which Christian tradition is followed. Twelfth Night is followed by the Feast of the Epiphany on 6 January. In some traditions, the first day of Epiphany (6 January) and the twelfth day of Christmas overlap.

Over the centuries, differing churches and sects of Christianity have changed the actual traditions, time frame and their interpretations. St. Stephen's Day (or Boxing Day), for example, is 26 December in the Western Church and 27 December in the Eastern Church.Boxing Day, on December 26, is observed as a legal holiday in parts of the Commonwealth of Nations. 28 December is Childermas or the Feast of the Innocents.

Currently, the twelve days and nights are celebrated in widely varying ways around the world. For example, some give gifts only on Christmas Day, some only on Twelfth Night, and some each of the twelve nights.

In England in the Middle Ages, this period was one of continuous feasting and merrymaking, which climaxed on Twelfth Night, the traditional end of the Christmas season. In Tudor England, Twelfth Night itself was forever solidified in popular culture when William Shakespeare used it as the setting for one of his most famous stage plays, titled Twelfth Night. Often a Lord of Misrule was chosen to lead the Christmas revels.

Some of these traditions were adapted from the older pagan customs, including the Roman Saturnalia and the Germanic Yuletide. Some also have an echo in modern day pantomime where traditionally authority is mocked and the principal male lead is played by a woman, while the leading older female character, or 'Dame', is played by a man.

Many in the UK and other Commonwealth nations still celebrate some aspects of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Boxing Day (26 December) is a national holiday in many Commonwealth nations, being the first full day of Christmas. Victorian era stories by Charles Dickens (and others), particularly A Christmas Carol, hold key elements of the celebrations such as the consumption of plum pudding, roasted goose and wassail. These foods are consumed more at the beginning of the Twelve Days in the UK.

Twelfth Night is the last day for decorations to be taken down, and it is held to be bad luck to leave decorations up after this. This is in contrast to the custom in Elizabethan England, when decorations were left up until Candlemas; this is still done in some other Western European countries such as Germany.

The traditions of the Twelve Days of Christmas have been largely forgotten in the United States. Contributing factors include the popularity of stories by Charles Dickens in nineteenth-century America (with their emphasis on generous gift-giving), introduction of more secular traditions over the past two centuries (such as the American Santa Claus), and the rise in popularity of New Year's Eve parties. The first day of Christmas actually terminates the Christmas marketing season for merchants, as shown by the number of "after-Christmas sales" that launch on 26 December. The commercial calendar has encouraged an erroneous assumption that the Twelve Days end on Christmas Day and must therefore begin on 14 December.

Many Christians still celebrate the liturgical seasons of Advent and Christmas according to their traditions. Represented well among these are Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Episcopalians, Anglo-Catholics, Lutherans, many Presbyterians and Methodists, Moravians, and many individuals in Amish and Mennonite communities.

Celebrants observing the Twelve Days may give gifts on each of them, with each day of the Twelve Days representing a wish for a corresponding month of the new year. They feast and otherwise celebrate the entire time through Epiphany morning. Lighting a candle for each day has become a modern tradition in the U.S. and of course singing the appropriate verses of the famous song each day is also an important and fun part of the American celebrations. Some also light a Yule Log on the first night (Christmas) and let it burn some each of the twelve nights. Some Americans have their own traditional foods to serve each night.

For some, Twelfth Night remains the biggest night for parties and gift-giving. Some households exchange gifts on the first (December 25) and last (January 5) days of the season. As in olden days, Twelfth Night to Epiphany morning is then the traditional time to take down the Christmas tree and decorations.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

[Editor's Note: If you are having trouble finding the patience for Yule to come around, try the following spell designed to speed up your experience of time so that it goes faster for you.]

There are many spells to accelerate time for the caster. This spell is designed to make time fly, or at least feel like it is. Begin by outlining your altar with roses to form a circle. Next, light three candles and place them upon your alter....

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The Septimontium was a Roman festival of the seven hills of Rome. It was celebrated in September (or, according to later calendars, on December 11th). They sacrificed seven animals at seven times in seven different places within the walls of the city near the seven hills. On that day the emperors were very liberal to the people. During the Septimontium in the Republican period, Romans refrained from operating horse-drawn carriages.

The erudite Roman Varro (116-29 B.C.) says the name of Rome was once Septimontium. This would have been before the people living on or around the 7 (septem) hills (montes) called their city Rome. This is also the name of a December 11 festival which included a walk around the hills. In A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, Samuel Ball Platner says Roman antiquarians believed the festival was based on the inclusion within the Roman city limits of the seven hills. There is debate over which hills were included.

Friday, December 07, 2012

Cinnamon is one of the all time great "go to" spices when it comes to old herbal remedies, however it is rarely used alone. Most often, cinnamon is used as an added ingredient to herbal teas or other preparations. Because of that, most of the entries here are recipes with many other ingredients. It is likely that the addition of cinnamon is often for flavor, however it does have a warming effect on the body and may add punch to the prescription.

Some of these remedies are benign and might actually work, for example: cinnamon tea for a cold and the lovely tea for indigestion. Others might be downright dangerous - check out the cures for Blindness and Syphilis. As always, if you decide to try one or more of the following remedies, please use common sense and educate yourself beforehand. Remember, these cures are old and were used in an era of ignorance and superstition....

A favorite of many gods and goddesses, cinnamon powder is sprinkled on offerings to attract attention and win the favor of the gods. Add the oil or powder to any money or success blend to bring swift results. Before getting out of bed in the morning, rub a dab of pure essential...

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Even the giving of gifts can be a ceremony all of its own. In Sweden and Germany there was a tradition until recently of the julknap, a gift wrapped in layers of paper or cloth. The person bringing the gift would knock at the door and when it was opened fling the package into the house before running off.

This was sometimes used as a means of making a marriage proposal or declaration of love, in which case a golden heart or letter (or even the person making the proposal) was hidden within.

There is a story about a certain Major Jones of Georgia who decided to follow this custom. He climbed into a meal sack suspended from a hook on the porch of his true love's house and spent the night there. However, he forgot the wind - it blew all night and caused the sack to swing to and fro, like the swaying of a ship. As well as seasick tablets he had also forgotten dog repellent and, unfortunately, the house dog paid him close attention throughout the night!

Monday, December 03, 2012

Here is a nice little article about the history of midwinter celebrations from Delaware Online:

Ancient Worship:

Long ago, people worshiped the sun as a god. His cycles were watched and measured with great care because it was thought the quality of life on Earth changed dramatically according to his whims.

As the season changed and winter fell, survival became much harder for ancient man. Many would not live through a cold winter, when food became scarce. As the days shortened, they feared the sun would disappear completely and leave them helpless in the dark....

Saturday, December 01, 2012

December, the twelfth and final month of the current Gregorian calendar and the first month Winter, derives its name from decem, the Latin word meaning "ten," as December was the tenth month of the old Roman calendar.

This page serves as a jumping off point for December holy days, spells, magicks, lore, rituals, superstitions and more.